1. Field
The present disclosure relates to resonator structures and electrodes, and to methods and apparatus for manufacturing the same.
2. Related Art
Mechanical resonators are physical structures that are designed to vibrate. Such resonators may be incorporated into a variety of devices such as timing oscillators, mass sensors, gyros, accelerometers, switches, and electromagnetic fuel sensors, amongst others.
Primary properties of mechanical resonating structures include the resonance frequency f0, the resonance quality factor Q, the motional resistance Rm, and the temperature characteristics and the frequency of undesired spurious vibrations.
The design parameters impacting the primary properties of the mechanical resonating structure may include but are not limited to defining the geometry of the resonating structure including width length, thickness and curvature of the resonant body, selection of material to employ materials of certain properties, selection of the ratio and the thicknesses of the employed materials, patterning certain layers of the mechanical resonating structure, and defining the connection of the resonating body to a substrate by design of anchors and anchor points.
Mechanical resonating structures are sometimes formed using wafer-level processing in which multiple mechanical resonating structures are formed on a single wafer. Wafer-level mass-production processes may produce a wafer with a plurality of mechanical resonating structures, where each of the design parameters may be met by only a few devices, while the majority of the mechanical resonating structures may have design parameters slightly different from the desired design parameters.